


Time Traveler

by ElectronicStar



Category: Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII Series, Final Fantasy XIII-2
Genre: F/M, Hopurai - Freeform, time travelling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-09-13 18:36:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16897833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElectronicStar/pseuds/ElectronicStar
Summary: Cocoon was saved, but the adventure isn't over yet. Three years after the fall a new adventure will begin, but now they don't have to save the world, but the whole future. HopexLightning





	1. 010AF

****It was done. The group of l'Cie had saved Cocoon from ruin. Two of them had turned into Ragnarok and created a crystal pillar under Cocoon, which prevented it to fall on Grand Pulse. The rest of the l'Cie were also turned into crystal, but a then they 'woke up' again and they were back to normal, even their brands were gone.

Even their families were okay. Lightning's little sister Serah and Sazh's son Dajh awakened from their crystal stasis as well and their brands were also gone. They were all human again. And Hope's father, Bartholomew was fine and flew with an airship to Grand Pulse. Now everyone have to save the population that are still on Cocoon and relocate them to Grand Pulse.

Because of the purge almost everyone were already moved to Grand Pulse, which was an ironic twist of fate...A quarter of Cocoon, including Bodhum, the home of Serah, Snow and Lightning, was destroyed. This also meant that a quarter of the population was wiped out. Sazh volunteered to assist PSICOM in the evacuation as a pilot. And of course his son Dajh will be there, too.

After such an incident he probably wouldn't let his son out of his sight for a long time. As they walked away Dajh waved at Lightning. They didn't know each other, but she saw what a good boy he was. She waved back and smiled slightly, before turning back to the others. Snow and Serah were discussing what they should do from now on.

Snow had the idea of building a new home, here in Grand Pulse. Why not? Cocoon wouldn't be habitable anyway, that would be alright. Hope was gone too. He wanted to meet his father, when he'll arrive. But was that really the end? _No_., thought Lightning. Something inside her told her that it's far from over.

She didn't know what will happen, but something would happen, that's for sure. Snow would protect Serah, so she could go and find a way to save Vanille and Fang, without destroying the crystal pillar..."Right, sis?", said Serah, interrupting Lightnings thoughts. "What?"

"We're going to build a beautiful home, right?"

"Sure."

"And you'll stay here with us, sis. I'm sure Vanille and Fang don't want you to go away to help them.", said Snow, grinning as if he had read her thoughts. Lightning thought for a moment and looked back up to the crystallized Cocoon. She couldn't see them, but Vanille and Fang were somewhere in this crystal structure and slept.

Maybe they could even watch them, who knows? And although she would never admit it, Snow was right. The two would certainly want her to stay with Serah to create a new future with her, rather than go away and find a way to save them. But yet there was still so much that she hadn't seen yet. Grand Pulse was a lot bigger than Cocoon and there were so many places they hadn't seen.

However, it would be a difficult journey. Without her l'Cie skills, it wouldn't be an easy task to make a fact-finding tour through Grand Pulse. "I'm not your sister.", answered Lightning with a stern tone in her voice and glared at him.

 

* * *

Three years have passed since then. Serah, Snow, Lightning and Team NORA built a new city by the sea and named it New Bodhum. It was mainly because, Snow said it's just great to live by the sea and then they picked out a nice spot and set up a kind of Bodhum copy, but there was more nature.

The Wedding of Snow and Serah was postponed, because under certain circumstances it was impossible to marry, what pleased Lightning very much. At first it's important to build up everything, before they can even think of a wedding. Snow and Serah agreed with her.

The whole l'Cie group kept in touch with each other and wrote letters to each other often. Sazh was still a pilot and has to fly across Grand Pulse. Dajh, of course, is with him all the time. Hope continues school and wants to study after that. Snow and his Team NORA were making...things, like to teach people how to fight and protected the city.

Serah was a teacher and if you sometimes see her methods, it's becoming increasingly clear that she's Lightning's sister. Lightning herself also protects the city, but refused to join Team NORA and to be put in a drawer with those guys. Although she's no longer at the Guardian Corps, Lightning still wore her Sergeant uniform. She liked this uniform and it was perfect for fighting against monsters and for other things. The older Farron often made long walks through the coastal city.

She always said it's only patrol, but in reality she wanted to be alone to think. Even though she would never admit it openly, she missed the others. Even though they didn't know each other so long, she has taken Hope, Sazh, Dajh, Fang and Vanille to her heart. She would like to visit them once, but she was without means of transport and she also had lots of things to do here.

In New Bodhum you could see the crystallized Cocoon, that still stands above Grand Pulse, very clearly and it was a quite beautiful sight. And in there were Fang and Vanille and slept and Lightning wondered how long they'll sleep...

One day as she went out into the night to 'patrol', she saw something that fell from heaven. A meteorite? It landed near the city with a nasty bang and Lightning went to the direction where the meteorite fell. The meteorite had left a large crater and Lightning looked what just landed. However, that meteorite looked more like a crystal...

She slid down the crater and went closer to the crystal. The crystal gleamed and shone in different colors in the moonlight. She held out her hand and touched the crystal. It was still quite warm and felt smooth. But then the crystal began to glow. Lightning withdrew her hand and backed away from it. The crystal shattered leaving a strange Spherical structure behind.

The orb inside was white and shined brightly and had a curved, golden shell. It kinda reminded her of Serah and Snow's chains. Lightning was about to turn around and go back to New Bodhum, but then some white bands came out of the orb and tied her, just like the fal'Cie Anima, 3 years ago.

"Let go!", shouted Lightning, and tried in free herself. Then she was pulled into the orb. She struggled even more and tried to reach for her Gunblade, but these light bands wouldn't let her do this. The last thought she had when she was pulled into the orb was: _Serah..._

 

* * *

  
Lightning woke up, several hours later and found herself lying on a grassland. She remembered that she was floating through a strange place. She sat up and looked around. She was no longer in New Bodhum...But she knew this place. Behind her was this strange structure, only this time it was closed.

 _How do I get back?_ , she wondered, and looked at it for a while. Was it perhaps some kind of teleportation device? She shrugged and went away. She met some soldiers and monsters here and there and slowly but surely, she knew where she was. She was in Yaschas-Massif. It looked different though.

She was about to enter a ruined city, but she was stopped by a female soldier. Only authorized persons may go there, she said. Lightning didn't want to make any trouble, turned around and went away to go another way. However, she stopped when she heard a scream. She turned around again and saw that a monster has appeared and attacked everyone.

The pink-haired soldier immediately pulled out her Gunblade and attacked the monster. Even though she had no longer her l'Cie skills the fight against this monster wasn't a problem for her. It was a Behemoth, but a very small one. I probably was a baby. The small Behemoth fell to the ground and Lightning went to him carefully to make sure that it's dead.

However, as she approached it, it snapped at her. Lightning hadn't even time to dodge, but then something hit the monster, that gave him the coup de grace. Lightning's eyes widened as she saw what had hit it. It was a bright yellow and blue boomerang with the inscription 'Hawkeye' written in the alphabet of Cocoon.

She knew the subject more than any other, and also the owner. She followed the trajectory of the boomerang with her eyes and saw that it flew into the shadows and was caught. Her gaze was fixed on this point, hoping to see someone she hadn't seen for three years. From the shadows emerged a man with short, silver hair and emerald green eyes.

He wore a uniform that resembled the former PSICOM. In his right hand was said boomerang. He flipped it shut and store it away, and then he went to Lightning with a smile on his face. His eyes shone brightly and he looked joyfully at her. Lightnings gaze was fixed with his. This couldn't possibly be Hope, right? He's only seventeen and now he looks like in his early twenties...

However, she would always recognize this silver hair and these, still childish looking, green eyes. The closer he came to her, the wider his smile grew. "Lightning?", asked the man and now it was clear to her. This WAS Hope! His voice was somehow deeper, of course, but it was his. "...Hope?", she asked back, still puzzled to see him like this.

He stopped in front of her and now she noticed how tall he was. He probably was at least a head taller than her and she had to look up to him. Is it normal to be this tall in the age of seventeen? He nodded cheerfully, and went on before Lightning could say anything. "I'm glad you remember me."

That confused her even more. Why should she not remember him? "Sure I remember you. Why not?", she asked, raising an eyebrow. "I just thought...well that's not important. It's nice to see you again, Light. It's really having been a long time."

"It wasn't so long.", she replied, and saw Hope frowning. Were three years without having seen her or others so bad for him? "Anyway....", began Hope and cleared his throat. "Where have you been all this time?"

"Where have I been? Well in New Bodhum. I once wrote that I live with Serah, Snow and Team NORA.", she replied, looking at him with raised eyebrow as he frowned once again. "What?", asked Lightning as he scratched his head thoughtfully. "But that was...What did you do then?"

"What do you mean? Then I was here all of a sudden." They were talking past each other...now she wanted even more to know what he meant. "What is it? Do you know something I don't know?"

"Well...", began Hope. "The last time you wrote was seven years ago.", he said, while Lightnings eyes widened. "Seven years?! But how is that possible?", she wondered and had suddenly the idea that this orb is something like a time machine... _The very idea! Time machines doesn't exist and you can't just travel through time! That's impossible!_ "Light?" Hopes deeper voice pulled her back to reality. "You know what's going on?"

"I'm not sure..."

"Let's talk somewhere else then.", said Hope as cheerfully as ever and went to the ruins, while Lightning followed him. They went to a small base, and sat down at a big table. Lightning told him what happened, about the crystal, that fell from the sky and that she was dragged into a glowing orb and suddenly appeared here.

Hope thought hard what the cause could be and uttered his first idea. "The only thing I can think of is, that you've traveled through time, Light."

"But that's impossible."

"That would be the only logical explanation. Besides, you don't look aged. I mean you still look exactly the same as ten years ago, and uh, you were nowhere to be found the last seven years and you don't even have memories of what you've done so far, so....."

"Hope, since when have you become such a smarty-pants?", asked Lightning him teasingly and smiled slightly, while Hope answered. "Since I'm with you.", he laughed before he recognized the ambiguous in his sentence. "I mean...since we met...", he corrected quickly and blushed slightly. "Well, yeah.", said Lightning to let him believe that she haven't heard the ambiguity in his words. The two were silent for a while before Lightning came back to the topic. "Then I need to get back."

"Now?", he asked with a touch of sadness in his voice. "No. I'd like to sleep a bit, before I go."

"Of course."

"By the way....", began Lightning, before Hope was able to get up to walk her to a accommodations. "You are now....how old?" Lightning knew the answer, but wanted to make sure. "Twenty-four."

"And what have you done the past few years?"

"After school I was studying and now I am the director of Academy." Lightning looked at him in amazement. Academy was established in her time and now the little Hope is the director......She couldn't suppress a little smile. "The Director, I see. Then you have to do so much, right, Mr. Estheim?", asked Lightning amused, while Hope grinned and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Yes, but that's a little thing for me." Before Lightning was able to say anything else a blonde girl tackled Hope in a tight hug. "Director!", she called and hugged him tightly. Lightning looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Who's this?", she asked her former partner who pushed the blonde away from him. "This is Alyssa, my assistant."

 _Pretty pushy assistant..._ , thought Lightning and grumbled mentally, while eyeing her suspiciously. "Alyssa, this is Lightning Farron."

"Ah, so this is the one you've spoken all the time?"

"You've told her about me? I hope you told her just good things about me.", said Lightning and grinned slightly. "O—of course they were all just good things!"

"Oh yes VERY good.", chimed Alyssa and laughed. "Alyssa don't you have anything to do? Elsewhere?", asked Hope in his business-like tone. "Well actually.....", she began, but stopped in midsentence, as she saw Hope's red, but stern face and grinned at him innocently. "Oh yes, I forgot. I'm gonna take care of this! I'm off.", she said and went away, leaving the two alone. "Wow, Hope, you can stand your ground. Where have you learned that?"

"Well, a soldier taught me that, you know. She's from the GC."

"I would love to meet her."

"You will certainly be the best friends." Then Hope began to laugh. He really missed this sarcasm of her. Lightning giggled slightly. That reminded her of the old days when they were l'Cie. "Say, do you know something about Serah?", asked Lightning to come back to the actual topic. "Yes. She still lives with Snow in New Bodhum. And she's deeply sad that you're gone. And I'm pretty sure that Snow's gone too, to search of you."

"And he calls this protecting?? I've told him to take care of Serah and what is he doing? He leaves her alone." Hope sighed. "You know him. But that also means that you mean something to him."

"It's not bad, but this idiot should rather stay by Serahs side."

"Tell him that." Lightning stood up and held his forehead. How can people be so stupid and leave his fiancée all alone? When she was a crystal he was with her the whole time. She sighed deeply and then looked back to Hope, who stood now next to her. "Where can I sleep?", she asked. In this time it was still in the late afternoon, but the events she'd gone through worn her out.

"Follow me.", said Hope, and led her to his quarters. "This is my accommodation, but you can stay here as long as you want." Lightning looked around. It was small but well equipped. "And where do you sleep?"

"I'll have to do so much and certainly can't sleep, so you have it all to yourself." Lightning sighed. He reminded her so much of herself. If she doesn't look after him and draws him in the right direction, he'll gonna be a workaholic, just like her. "Don't overdo things, Hope."

"Don't worry.", he said and smiled at her. "Rest, I'll make sure that nobody's bothering you."  
" Thanks." Then Hope left her alone. _Oh man, I still can't believe that I'm in the future..._ , she thought, and went to bed. It was still strange to see the adult Hope. Twenty-four...So she guessed right. And now they're the same age....She went to bed and after she made herself comfortably, she fell asleep.  
  
_**Hope's POV** _  
  
Hope left his quarters and went back to the others, to continue on with his work. However, he couldn't focus, all he thought about was Lightning. As he saw her how she fought against the small Behemoth, his breath caught in his throat.

Ten years passed, since he last saw her. And not only that...he had a crush on her back then. He thought that these feelings will pass eventually, but they became even stronger. That's why he was so shocked when he was told that Lightning was gone. Together with Sazh and Snow, he'd looked everywhere for her, but never found her.

And now she's suddenly here. And it looks like she's traveled through time. He never thought that this could be possible. He also had never seen these 'spherical structures' Lightning has told him about. But it would be a shame if she would immediately travel back seven years again. In this time she could finally see him as a man and not as a child....

They had the same age now, he had a great career and was even able to fight better than before. If she would go back again, she would be with the Hope who's seven years younger than her and will stay a child in her eyes forever....Maybe he could convince her to stay in that time? He really hoped she'd say yes...

 

 


	2. Oracle Drive

Lightning was sleeping through the night and didn't hear that Hope came into the quarter in the middle of the night and made himself comfortable on a chair in order to get some sleep. He rested his head on his arms, on the table, and fell instantly asleep. This whole work worn him completely out and before he fainted, he decided to get some sleep. This happens quite often, but as a director everyone needs him and that meant that he has some extra work to do.

 

Lightning woke up the next day at dawn automatically. She sat up and looked around, her eyes showing confusion. She was not in her room...She looked out the window and noticed that she wasn't in New Bodhum either...Then she looked at the silver-haired man who was leaning against a table and slept. It was Hope...and he was still twenty-four and was director of the Academy. It wasn't a dream.

  
The pink-haired woman got out of her, or Hopes bed to be exact, put on her red bag, gunblade, boots and vest, and then she took her, still warm, blanket and laid it on the silver-haired man, before she left his quarters to get a look at the future Yaschas-Massif. A few hours later, Hope finally woke up as well. He wondered for a moment why he hadn't slept in his bed until he remembered that Lightning appeared from the past, the previous day.

  
The next thing that confused him for the moment was that he had a blanket, even though he knew for sure that he gave Lightning all his blankets. She must have given him this and he couldn't help grin about it. Hope sat up straight and stretched himself, before he looked over to the empty bed. _Was it just a dream?_ , he wondered and stood up. He quickly readied himself for the day and just as he wanted to leave the room, he saw a flash of pink before something collided with him.

  
He instantly held that little pink something against himself to prevent it from falling down and looked down. Icy blue eyes stared into his leaf green ones. "Lightning!", he exclaimed surprised and let her go. "Yeah, it's me. Who did you expect?", she asked, placing a hand on her hip. Actually, he'd thought that Alyssa's coming, but when he saw Lightning's pink hair, he knew who it was.

  
"No one.", he replied innocently, while smiling at her. "You know what, 'Director'? Even though you're taller and have a deeper voice, you haven't changed a bit.", said the former soldier and smiled at him slightly. Hope hit this statement like...lightning. Does she still see him as that little, naive boy from back then?

  
"Oh..." Lightning raised an eyebrow. "That was a compliment.", she said, while crossing her arms over her chest. "Uh...Thank you...", said Hope still in the same disappointed tone. Lightning had no idea why he was so disappointed. That was well meant..."Where have you been, Light?", asked Hope to change the subject. "Took a walk." Then there was a silence again. "Uh, I have to go back to work.", said Hope and walked past her, but stopped when she grabbed his arm.

  
"How long do you work for a day?", she asked, looking at him sternly. "I don't know...maybe 15-20 hours...maybe longer...", he replied, while shrugging his shoulders. "That's too long!", she said in a strict tone. "How long have you worked in the CG?" Lightning sighed and held her forehead. "Hope you can't compare this with the GC. I often had to go to missions and of course the hours of labor were longer than normal."

  
"Then we can also count this as a mission."

  
"No, you can't. Anyway, can I help you with anything?"

  
"No, but I'd like to show you something.", replied Hope and led her back to the base. Once there, he showed her a hexagonal device. "What's that?", asked Lightning and looked at it closely. "This is an Oracle Drive. The farseer used it to record their visions from the future.", said Hope, and turned it on. The oracle then projected an image in the sky, much like an ordinary projector.

  
It showed them pictures of the events ten years ago. The way Vanille and Fang transformed into Ragnarok and saved Cocoon, as the group came to Eden and fought against soldiers and monsters, and as Lightning and the other l'Cie woke up from crystal stasis and turned back to humans. "How old is this thing exactly?", asked Lightning, her eyes were fixed on the images. "It's probably thousands of years old."

  
"And they'd seen everything what happened...interesting." Hope wanted to turn the oracle off, but suddenly other images appeared. "What's that?", asked the pink-haired woman. "I don't know. I've never seen this before..." The oracle showed them rather unclear pictures of Lightning, as she rode on Odin and fought against someone. The older Hope and Alexander were right behind her and gave her backing. Even a Moogle was with them...

  
The two were silent. They didn't know exactly what to say. Was that a sign that they'll become l'Cie again? Then it went further and they saw that Cocoon crashed and down on Grand Pulse. The eyes of the two widened, they just saw the end of the world! "....Cocoon will fall...", said Lightning after a long silence. "We have to prevent it!", said Hope, who snapped out of his daze as well.

  
"And how?", asked the pink-haired woman. "But there has to be something we can do...Maybe it depends on whether we defeat this guy, we've just seen?", guessed Hope, but saw Lightning shaking her head. "No, I think this is a natural event." Hope said nothing more. They both wondered what they could do and were silent, which felt like an eternity, before Hope spoke again. "If only we could...Light! That's it!", he exclaimed enthusiastically, and ran to her. "We just travel through time and find out when and how Cocoon will fall! We're gonna change the future and prevent it!"

  
"'We'?"

  
"Yes! You traveled through time as well and if we change the history, we can save Cocoon! Just as Vanille and Fang!"

  
"Hope!", interrupted Lightning and brought him back to reality. "Cocoon will fall either way. Whether we do something about it or not. The crystal pillar won't last forever. We don't even know when this will happen and if we would know it, it's not like we can just go there and catch it just like that. And I would go by myself."

  
Hope's eyes widened. "But...The oracle said that I fight by your side!" Lightning crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from him. "Then we just change the future.", she said, while Hope went silent. That was typical Lightning...She always wanted to do everything alone and carry all the responsibility. But this time she wouldn't do what she wanted.

  
He would go with her, whether she wanted it or not. Hope opened his mouth to tell her just that, but stopped as Alyssa suddenly appeared, totally dissolved. "Director! You have to look at this!", she exclaimed so loud that it would even wake the dead. "What's the matter?", asked Hope, partly annoyed that she interrupted them. "We've found something! Come on!", she said, while pulling on Hopes arm. Lightning followed them.

  
Once they ran through the Yaschas-Massif, Hope was dragged along for the most part, they arrived a glade. There was a golden, Spherical structure. "This thing's brought me here!", said Lightning immediately, while Hope looked at it interested. "So this is a time portal...", he muttered to himself. "Time portal?", asked Alyssa confused, but Hope paid her no attention and went closer to the portal.

  
The gold curved casing was tight against the ball, which meant that it was closed. "How are we going to open it?", asked Hope to no one in particular, while Lightning just shrugged her shoulders. "The first time it suddenly opened, but this time you probably need some kind of key..."

  
"Um...", began Alyssa. "A few meters further, we've also found this.", she said and gave Hope a crystal. It hovered over his hand and looked like one of the Cie'th statues, or Shiva. "What's that..?", asked Lightning and approached him to look closely at the crystal. "Maybe this is the key?", guessed Hope and went even closer to the portal. Suddenly the small crystal began to glow and then the portal opened.

  
"It worked." Lightning took a few steps backwards, she didn't want the portal to absorb her again and looked at it carefully. "I wonder where it leads...?", she wondered. "We're going to find out.", said Hope, and was about to go through the portal, but was stopped by Lightning and Alyssa. Lightning held onto his shoulder, while Alyssa wrapped her arms around his arm. "Director Hope, you can't just go!"

  
"You'll stay here, Hope.", both girls said simultaneously and held him tightly. "Why?"

  
"You have work to do here. It'd be better if I go alone.", she answered, while pushing him away from the portal. She turned to the portal and was about to go through it, but stopped as Hope spoke again. "No." Lightning turned back to him and raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

  
"I said no, Light. No matter what you tell me you can't stop me to come along with you."

  
"Hope—“

  
"No. Save it, Light. I'm coming with you." Hope looked at her with the same determination, as ten years ago, as Lightning wanted to leave him behind and after he received his Eidolon Alexander. Lightning sighed loudly and turned back to him completely. "We'll leave tomorrow morning.", she said as she walked past him. "Why tomorrow?", asked Hope, while Lightning stopped again, but didn't turn to him. "You can't just disappear, Hope. Yes, we could potentially prevent the fall of Cocoon, when we travel through time, but something has to happen in the present as well. You have to think about what your gentry can do here. You have time until tomorrow.", she said and then went away.

  
"She's right.", said Alyssa, after a moment of silence. Hope had been already forgotten that she was there. "I know.", he replied. "Then let's go back to work." Then they both went back too. While Hope and Alyssa were planning what they all could do in the present, Lightning walked through the ruined city.

  
On the walls she found old pictures and writings. Of course she couldn't read any of it. Maybe it was written in the alphabet of Grand Pulse, or perhaps it was something completely different. She wondered if Hope could decipher it, after all, he's probably spent a lot of time here. She briefly spaced out, as she thought about the silver-haired boy.

  
In these ten years the small, timid boy had grown to a bolder and apparently eager young man. Even during their fight against Orphan she was able to see his progress. Since the day he got Alexander, he was already bold. And although she would never openly admit it Hope was, or rather is, quite...attractive. During the many little physical contacts, since the last few hours, she could clearly spot his many muscles, so he has also trained a lot and has become a lot stronger.

  
Lightning wondered if Hope also remembers their promise...Back than in Palumpolum they promised to protect each other. Lightning just chuckled and poked his forehead. Of course it wasn't possible for him to protect her. He was too young and had to learn to take care of himself first. However, he did everything in order to watch over her, just as he promised. In battles, he always healed her first, if she sometimes withdrew into a corner and thought about their fate as l'Cie and Serah; he came to her and talked to her.

  
He always managed to cheer her up again, of course this is mutual. Once he had doubts, or thought of his dead mother, they always talked about it and Lightning had always tried to cheer him up with small gestures. Whether it's just a hug or a simple pat on his head. Hope seemed to enjoy it, so she always did this to cheer him up. Even Hope used the Embrace-Technique more often. And then their friendship deepened more and more.

  
Even if it was still not possible for him to protect her, except for healing her as often as possible, he still couldn't quiet protect her in a fight, but now....Now it would be possible. But too many years passed since they made this promise. He surely has forgotten it....She couldn't explain it, but at this thought she felt a strange stab in her chest...She ignored this feeling though, and continued walking around to focus on other things.

  
When she returned to the base after a few hours, she met Hope and Alyssa. The two stopped their work and turned to her. "Lightning. Have you already seen everything?" Lightning nodded and came closer to them. "Do you have a minute?", she asked, while Hope nodded. "Of course. What's up?"

  
"Can you tell me something about this city?" Hope nodded again and began to explain. "We suppose that this is the city of Paddra. Here once lived the farseer and was ruled by one seeress, who appears in every era and always has the same name: Yeul."

  
"The farseer...?", mumbled Lightning to herself. Hope mentioned it before, but now it's the best time to ask him questions. "They can see the whole timeline, as you've seen in the Oracle Drive. However, they always lose some of their vitality after they saw a new vision."

  
"But how did this city fall? Those farseer could've prevented it."

  
"They saw that the city will be destroyed some day and the people back than panicked. Some of them wanted to fight, some of them fled and others even took their own life. The result was a civil war, and that's how the city fell."

  
"I see...", she murmured again and saw once again to the city. "To watch the timeline can be boon and bane at the same time.", added Hope. "And this Yeul appeared in every era?"

  
"Exactly. The legends say that she'll always be reborn." Lightning thought for a while and then looked back to Hope and Alyssa. "Then there must be a Yeul in this time as well." Hope nodded and took a few steps towards her. "Exactly. I'm pretty sure that a Yeul exist in this time as well. But the farseer surely doesn't want any more contact with people, that would explain why no one has seen a farseer for a long time."

  
"You're pretty smart Hope.", said Lightning and gave him one of her half smiles. "That's the result of ten years of research.", he replied with a grin. "I even have an idea what we could do."

  
"Shoot."

  
"We could make Cocoon float again."

  
"And how's that possible?", asked the pink-haired woman, while Hope was silent for a moment. "I'm still not sure..."

  
"How about we just make a Proto fal'Cie, that let Cocoon float again?", suggested Alyssa, while the two turned to her. "Hmm...it could work.", said Hope, but Lightning wasn't convinced by the idea. "A fal'Cie? To create a new Cocoon and let this mess start all over again?"

  
"It won't happen if we program it correctly.", countered Alyssa. "Do what you want.", said Lightning and sighed. "By the way...", began Hope. "I still have a little surprise for you, Light." Lightning looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "A surprise?"

  
"Yes, I hope you like it. I've contacted some guys who'll keep this project alive, while I'm gone.", he said and grinned at her. "Who?"

  
"You're going to find out soon." Hope made a secret out of this and Lightning wondered who he could've invited. However, she didn't have to wait long for her surprise. Only a few minutes later the silence was interrupted by a high-pitched squeal. Lightning turned to the noise and found herself lying on her back, seconds later.

  
The pink-haired woman had to register what just happened, as she felt something on top of her. She looked down and saw her little sister lying on top of her. She hugged her very tight and buried her face in her neck. "S-Serah....", said Lightning, who couldn't believe that she's actually here. "Lightning!", exclaimed Serah and Lightning felt that her neck became wet. She wrapped her arms around her little sister and stroked her gently on her back. "It's alright. I'm here.", she said reassuringly, while Serah couldn't stop crying. "Lightning, I'm so glad you're back! I thought you've left me.", she sobbed. Lightning had trouble understanding her through the sobbings.

  
"I would never leave you.", said the older one, while Serah said nothing anymore and continued to cry. Then Snow came into view. He waved to her and grinned. "Hey, sis." Lightning narrowed her eyes. "I'm not your sister.", she hissed between clenched teeth. "I've missed you too.", he simply said, his grin became even wider.

  
"I'm glad you two could make it.", said Hope, and came closer to them. "Hey, Hope! We haven't seen each other for an eternity! You've become really tall!", said Snow, and put a hand on Hopes shoulder. "Yeah, whatever, I need your help. By the way, what's with Sazh and Dajh?"

  
"Undetectable. Just as Light back then.", said Snow a little more serious this time, while Hope looked at him thoughtfully. "There are many theories of what might have happened to them...But back to Lightning. I know why she suddenly disappeared."

  
"Why?", asked Serah, who was still lying on her big sister and calmed down slowly. "Let me get up and I'll explain everything to you." Then Serah stood up, and helped Lightning to get up as well. When she finally got back on her feet Serah embraced her again. "It's alright, Serah...", said Lightning and stroked her hair. "So, where have you been all this time, sis?" Lightning ignored Snows last word and told them everything.

That one night a meteor fell near New Bodhum, which looked like a crystal, and that she was dragged into a glowing ball, which brought her here. "To put it briefly: I've traveled through time.", she finished, while Serah and Snow stared at her with big eyes. "Is that even possible?", asked Snow, who is still pretty amazed.

  
"Yes, would I be here if this isn't possible?", asked Lightning back and crossed her arms over her chest. "Guess not...", said Snow. "What shall we do now, Hope?", asked Serah to change the subject. "I'm going to create a plan this evening. All you have to do is to realize this plan. From time to time you should keep an eye on the Oracle Drive though, if something changes in the future. I'll explain you everything you need to know."

  
"All right! Leave it all to me!", said Snow and gave him his trademark grin. "Uh.....", said Hope, before he leaned over to Serah. "Take care of it.", he whispered into her ear while Serah began to giggle. "Of course."

  
"You can relax in the meantime or you can walk through the ruins if you want. I need some time to edit this plan with Alyssa.", said Hope to them, while everyone, except for Lightning, agreed. "Shall I help you with anything?", asked the elder Farron, while Hope shook his head. "No, I have everything under control. Just rest a bit." Lightning snorted. She didn't like that she could do nothing. It just wasn't her kind to sit down and do nothing, while others work. "Please, Light.", said Hope with a gentler voice, and looked almost pleadingly at her.

  
"Okay, fair enough. But if you need any help tell me.", she said and went away. "Will do.", he called after her, before she disappeared from his sight. "Say, Hope...do you like sis?", asked Serah as if it's the most normal thing ever, while Hope looked at her in shock. "Uh...", was all the silver-haired man could say at this moment. "I knew it!", said Serah overjoyed and went to him. "Please take good care of her, okay?"

 

"Uh...It's not like that...", he stammered, while looking away from Serah and Snow, who grinned at him knowingly. "Come on, I know exactly that you had a crush on sis since back then." Snow laughed and put his hand on his shoulder. "I don't—It's not like that!!“, he said a bit too fast and felt his face heat up. "Even I could see it.", agreed Serah and smiled at him happily. "Me too." The three of them turned to the blonde, who was still standing at the desk.

 

"Alyssa you too?!", asked Hope startled, while she smiled at him and went to them. "It's not hard to overlook. After all I can see how you look at her. And as you've described her once you grinned like a Cheshire cat and looked like a lovesick puppy. One could be really jealous of her.", said the blonde and giggled when she saw how red Hope's face became.

  
Meanwhile, Lightning went a bit through Yaschas-Massif again. It was just too boring to wait back in the quarter and wait, so she decided to go for a walk and perhaps even train with the monsters in this area. She would like to spend time with her little sister instead, but Hope has a lot to explain to them and she didn't want to have to listen to it a second time. She would spend time with her later. After all they still had time for the rest of the day.

 


	3. Paradoxes

Lightning woke up the next day in the early morning. It was sunrise and if she wasn't already accustomed to get up around this time Lightning would've slept for a few more hours. Just like yesterday Lightning slept in Hopes bed, with the only difference that Hope slept right next to her. In the middle of the night, when she returned from another round of her much needed training, she realized that Hope was still working on the plan.

He refused to sleep, so that Lightning had to drag him to his quarters and practically chained him on the bed so that he could get some sleep. Then he wanted to argue with her that she should sleep in the bed and he'll look for something else, but Lightning didn't argue and decided that they would share the bed.

And after Lightning threatened him to cast a sleeping spell on him, he suddenly became very quiet and cooperated. Snow and Serah got a free quarter in the district that they could use from now on. Lightning looked to her left and saw the still sleeping Hope. During his sleep, Hope looked even cuter than usual, but Lightning would never admit it, of course. Just as she wanted to get up, the silver haired man turned to her and put his arm around her waist and buried his face in her neck.

Lighting's breath caught in her throat and her heart beat so fast that she thought it'll jump out of her chest any moment. The pink-haired ex-soldier told herself that it's just the sudden shock and tried to calm herself down. She took a few deep breaths and felt her heart beat more slowly. Good thing that she learned in the GC to get her emotions under control.

Then she heard that Hope muttered something in his sleep and thought that he would again call her 'Mom', but instead he just said her name. Lightning told herself that it doesn't mean anything, and slipped away from him. However, he held her pretty tight and she couldn't escape. Even in sleep he was pretty strong...."Hope, let me go.", said Lightning and felt him shaking his head.

The pink-haired raised an eyebrow. Was he awake? "Hope, you're awake?" But she got no response. No head shaking or any other reaction, which confirmed that Hope was still sleeping and didn't hear her. Lightning sighed and tried again to get rid of him. If he didn't let go of her, she would probably have to wake him up.

She tried again to free herself from his grasp and pushed him away, but Hope held her tightly in his grip. "Hope.", said Lightning and shook him. Hope gave no reaction and the ex-soldier shook him stronger. "Hope!" The silver-haired man groaned annoyed, as if to say 'Be quiet, I wanna sleep!', but Lightning continued on. "Wake up, Hope!" Finally, the silver-haired man opened his green eyes, but didn't realized the position he was in.

Lightning saw that his eyes were open and sighed in relieve. "Good, you're awake. Could you let go of me now?", she asked and sighed again. She wanted him to keep sleeping, but she had no other choice. Hope's vision cleared and when he realized how close he and Lightning were, he immediately let go of her and slid back to the wall. "I-I'm sorry!", he said quickly, while looking at her anxiously, as if she would beat him any moment. Lightning, however, stood up and stretched herself. "I didn't want to wake you up, Hope, but you've left me no other choice." Hope said nothing to her, he was still too embarrassed to say anything. Lightning put on her remaining clothes and didn't even deign to look at Hope.

"What time is it?", asked Hope sleepily and rubbed his eyes. "6Am.", replied Lightning, once she looked at her cell phone, whose time she changed the previous day. "And you get up so early?"  
"I'm used to it. In New Bodhum I've often kept guard around this time.", she said and turned back to him. "Go back to sleep. I'll go for a walk."

"But I still have so much to do..."

"Go.Back.To.Sleep.", she said with a strict tone in her voice and emphasized each word. "Okay, okay...", sighed Hope and laid down again, while Lightning went away. Hope closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but he couldn't. His bed felt somehow cold and lonely. He knew that it's the fact that Lightning was no longer beside him, but he tried to ignore this feeling.  
After he lay a few minutes awake, he turned around and was on Lightning's side of the bed, with his face buried in the pillow. He immediately noticed that her scent still clung onto it and took a deep breath. The pillow smelled of roses and strawberries.

He knew that smell from back then. At that time, he was very close to her often and was always able to inhale her scent. This could be the reason why he likes roses and strawberries so much....Hope closed his eyes and focused only on Lightning's scent and imagined that she still is next to him. Minutes later he was fast asleep again. Meanwhile, Lightning walked for the hundredth time through the Yaschas-Massif and the ruined city of Paddra. She still felt weird, because of what just happened with Hope, but she always told herself that it doesn't mean a thing and tried to ignore these strange feelings again.

A few hours later it was time for Lightning and Hope to go. Hope explained Snow and Serah his plan about the Proto fal'Cie and also how the Oracle Drive works. Then Lightning, Hope, Snow, Serah and Alyssa went to the time gate. "Ready?", asked Lightning the silver-haired man, who just nodded. Before they could make a move, Alyssa held tightly onto Hopes arm. "I still think that this isn't a good idea! Director, you can't just go like that!" At this action Lightning felt another stab in her chest and the feeling to kill Alyssa right on the spot, but because of her professional mask, no one could guess her feelings. The feeling stopped though, as Hope freed his arm and pushed Alyssa away from him.

"Serah and Snow will take care of everything. The plan is foolproof.", said Hope. "Let's just hope that Snow has understood it.", said Lightning and looked at Snow, who played her little game along. "Yes, sis, I got it.", he said and grinned, as Lightning glared at him again. Then she turned back to Hope and looked at him seriously. "Are you sure that you can do that, Hope? Can you leave your time like this to travel with me through the time to fight more battles and perhaps even die?" Hope looked at her and grinned broadly. "It's not a question of can or can't. Some things in life you just do.", he quoted the ex-soldier, who now had to smile a bit. "So, you remember."

"I would never forget this." And that was the truth. Everything that Lightning has taught him was burned into his memory. "Let's go then.", said the pink-haired impatiently, while Hope nodded once again. Once they've said good bye to the others, Serah didn't even want to let go of her big sister and gave her a bone breaking hug, they both went through the portal. For Serah, Snow and Alyssa, it looked as if they would dissolve in the golden light.

Lightning opened her eyes, she was forced to close by the bright light and found herself with Hope in a strange place. They floated through formations that looked like giant rings and around them was a red and orange light. "Where are we?", asked Lightning and looked around carefully. "That must be the time line…", guessed Hope and hovered beside her. After a while the light came closer and closer and soon they arrived their destiny. They came out of the portal and landed on their feet. Lightning got up and looked at her surroundings. She knew this place all too well. "Oerba...", she said quietly, but loud enough for Hope to hear. "Are we really in Oerba?"

"Yes.", said the pink-haired woman and looked at the sky. "Cocoon's still there.", she said and turned back to Hope, as he began to speak. "What year is it now?" Lightning shrugged her shoulders, she had no idea. "Let's look around." Hope nodded and then they went into the still deserted city. "Nothing has changed that much...", said Lightning and moved on. "Yes...Lightning! Look!" Hope ran in another direction, while Lightning followed him. "What is it?", she asked, but stopped as she saw what he meant. "That part is gone.", said Hope, and looked at the missing part of Oerba, which looked like it was swallowed by a black hole.

Then they saw column that shined golden and looked like a crack. "Maybe we can find out what's going on here, when we go in there?", guessed Hope and looked at Lightning. "It's worth a shot.", she said, while nodding and went through it, Hope followed her closely. The next moment they found themselves in a strange pale blue room. They stood on crystal plates.

In the middle was a large square of these plates and only Lightning had the chance to access it, because Hope was on a single plate, away from the scene. On some plates were crystals and on the other side of the square was a time gate. "Where are we now?", asked Lightning. "I don't know....", replied Hope, while looking around carefully.

"You see how the crystals are arranged?", he asked and pointed at them. "Maybe they have a meaning…" Lightning entered the square and then all the crystals began to glow in different colours, while a pair of these crystals had the same colour. Hope thought for a moment. "Go to the yellow one.", he said, and pointed to it. Lightning did what she was told and as she touched the crystal white thread of light stuck to her hand.

"And now touch the other one." She went in silence to the other yellow crystal and also touched it and then the light connected these two crystals, which changed their colour again. "I knew it...This is a riddle. You have to connect all isochromatic crystals.", said Hope, while Lightning already combined the next crystals. "I've also have noticed it, thank you, Hope.", she said sarcastically. As she finally connected all the crystals and created a constellation of a monster, Hope was able to go to her, as a few more plates appeared on his single one. Then they went through the portal and arrived Oerba again. "Kupoo~!" Lightning and Hope looked around to see where this noise came from, until a white Moogle flew against Hope. "Hey, careful.", said Hope and held the Moogle.

"Watch where you standing, kupo!", said the white Moogle and held his head. This Moogle looked different than normal. It had, instead of a big red ball, a purple crystal as a bobble. "Uh...I'm sorry?", said Hope and let it go. "What are you doing here?", asked Lightning and poked the Moogle. "I have no idea, kupo...I think something has sucked me in, kupo..."

"Then you're not the only one...", said Lightning with a sigh. "I'm Mog, kupo! Who are you, kupo?"

"I'm Hope. And this is Lightning."

"Hope and Lightning, kupo? You have so strange names, kupo!", said Mog and had to laugh. "Lightning is not her real name though."

"Oh, okay, kupo."

"Let's keep going.", said the pink-haired woman and was about to go, but was stopped by Mog, who flew in front of her. "Can I join you, kupo?", it asked. "I can be a great help for you, kupo! With the staff here, I can manipulate time and can track down time-shifted objects, kupo! I can even turn into a weapon, kupo."

"No thanks, we already have weapons.", said Hope. "Are you sure you want to keep fighting with this boomerang, Hope?", asked Lightning and looked at the Moogle. "Show us what weapon you can transform into."

"Kupopo!" Immediately the little Moogle transformed into a white and purple bow. Hope caught it and looked at it. "Can you handle it?", asked the pink-haired woman, while Hope tried it. He strained the bow, and then a white magic arrow appeared. As if on cue, a few monsters appeared out of nowhere. Lightning pulled her gunblade from its holster and went into her fighting stance. "You attack first, Hope." Hope nodded and shot at the nearest monster with the magical arrow and hit the bullseye. "Well done.", said Lightning and then attack them herself. Hope shot more magical arrows until he unleashed a mechanism and the bow became a sword. "Light, it's also a sword!" he called out to her and kept fighting by their side.

"Who'd have thought it?", said the ex-soldier, as she defeated the last monster. When the fight was over Mog turned back to a Moogle. "You can come with us.", said Lightning, while Mog flew around happily and said “kupo, kupo!". As Lightning passed them, she put a hand on Hope's shoulder. "And you have a new weapon." Hope looked after her and nodded, although she couldn't see him. "Yeah.", he said and followed her.

After they had to manage other tasks, they arrived their destination. They went to the roof of the former town hall, and there was a sort of garden. In the centre stood an Oracle Drive. The three went closer to the device. "Shall we take a closer look?", asked Lightning, while Hope only nodded and then stretched out his hand. "Stop.", called a girl who suddenly appeared behind them. She apparently had watched them.

They turned to the girl, who had long, dark blue hair and bright green eyes. She wore a white shirt with crystals and some jewellery, a white and purple skirt and a variety of braided bracelets off with jewellery in them. Hope's hand was still directed to the Oracle Drive and activated it. It showed them pictures of the battle they've already seen in Yaschas-Massif, but this time their enemy and the place where they fought was in a better quality. The place was a rather dismal town, but they still couldn't guess what and where this place is. Their enemy had shoulder-length purple hair and wore a purple headband, which had some feathers and wore a black armour that also had a few purple parts.

His giant sword looked like a wing and on the handle was something that looked like an eye that gave dark energy off. Hope was on Alexanders Hand and was thrown away. Mog was with them and was the bow and then Hope attacked him with Lightning head-on.

Hope and Lightning wore white, shining armours and Lightning even had white feathers on her left hip. Finally, they saw the fall of Cocoon again, before the Oracle Drive went out. Then Lightning, Hope and Mog turned back to the girl. "Who are you?", asked Hope, while the girl walked towards them. "My name is Paddra Nsu-Yeul."

"Yeul?", repeated Hope slightly shocked. Yeul nodded and stood directly in front of them. Her hands were behind her back. "I knew that you would come here. I've watched you three for a while.", she said. The group didn't respond. "You can ask me what you want." Hope and Lightning immediately snapped out of their trance. "Uh...what year is it now?", asked Hope. "200AF." replied the farseer. "Can you tell us something about time travelling?", asked Lightning, while Yeul nodded and began to explain. "Since the fall of Cocoon, two hundred years ago, the space-time has been distorted and partially destroyed. You two were chosen to restore the space-time. The place you enter when you travel through time is called Historia Crux. And as you already found out you need a special artifact to open a gate." Then she gave them a crystal that she held behind her back and handed it to Lightning.

The pink-haired woman took it. "But be warned.", continued Yeul. "If you change the future, you change the past. You can remold history as your heart desires." The three let her words sink in. Suddenly Yeuls eyes began to glow golden, but it ended as quickly as it began. Then she pointed to Lightning. "You and I are the same.", she said, while Lightning looked at her confused. "What are you talking about?" Yeul didn't reply and turned away. Once she got a few steps away from them, she replied. "You, too, can show others the way."

"Wait!", called Hope, and saw that she stopped, but didn't turn around. "Why was Oerba about to disappear? And what were—“

"It was a paradox.", interrupted Yeul. "And the other portals that you have seen are called Temporal Rift. Through them you can solve the paradox by riddles, you have to find out on your own how you can solve the other paradoxes."

"Paradoxes...I see...", murmured Hope. "You will soon understand what these paradoxes are."

"Who was that guy we saw in the Oracle Drive? And what was that place?", asked Lightning, while Yeul looked over her shoulder to them. "This place is called “Valhalla". And his name is Caius Ballad. You're going to meet him soon enough." And then Yeul left the roof and the three time travellers were left alone. "Wow...", said Hope after a long moment of silence. "We've just got to met the seeress Yeul."

"Yes...", agreed Lightning and placed her free hand on her hip. "But what did she mean that we're alike?"

"Who knows, kupo..."

"And it looks like we're going to fight Caius in the unseen realm...It's kinda exciting. I mean, we're gonna be the only living people there." Once he saw that Lightning and Mog stared at him in silence, Hope began to explain. "The unseen realm, or Valhalla, is like an afterlife. You only can enter it if you're dead. When you die a gate opens, that leads into this realm. And the Goddess Etro is there too, she was..."

"Stop.", interrupted Lightning. "That's enough. Everyone knows the story of the gods." Hope nodded and grinned at her innocently. "Well, we're certainly going to find out soon.", said Hope, while smiling at Lightning in order to lift the mood a bit. Lightning just nodded and looked around. "Where is the next gate?", she asked as she went down the stairs and through the parish hall to the exit. "It must be somewhere around here. But do you really want to go now? We should rest, don't you think?"

"You falter, Hope." Hope stopped abruptly with an open mouth. He was totally speechless by her statement and the last thing he wanted was to be reminded of his childhood, where he couldn't keep up with Lightning and was even abandoned by her. In order to appeal at least a bit stronger than back then, he put on his most determined face and went past Lightning. He stopped in front of her, to stop her. "I'm not going “soft". I just think logically." Lightning looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, because he stood upright and was extra tall in order to seem even more convincing. "Logically, huh?", said Lightning and put a hand on her hip. "Yes."

"Then tell me what you've planned." Hope's eyes widened a little, he'd expected her to walk past him and do what she wants. "Um....", he began and quickly put a plan together. "We should rest before we go, we don't even know what awaits us next." Then he looked at the sky, which slowly darkened. "And it seems to be really late..."

"But as we left it was still forenoon.", she countered. "Well, yes but..." Hope was running out of arguments and sighed deeply in defeat. "Okay, let's get going." Lightning couldn't resist a small smile and looked at him. "We're going to rest.", she decided and looked for a safe place where they won't attacked by any monsters. Hope followed immediately and smiled at her brightly, while Mog watched everything in silence. As they found a safe place to rest Lightning and Hope sat next to each other on the ground and leaned on a wall. Mog had made itself comfortable on Lightning's lap. "Kupo kupo...", it said exhaustedly. "You seem to be pretty exhausted, huh, Mog?" Mog nodded. "I flew all the time, kupo. I thought I'll never get out of this paradox, kupo..."

"Now you're with us.", said Lightning, while Hope nodded in agreement. "That's right, kupo." Then again there was silence between them. Hope sat there all tensed up and the fact that he and Lightning were so close, that their shoulders almost touched didn't make it any better, so he looked up at the sky to the crystallized Cocoon to distract himself a bit. Lightning felt his tension and looked up at him. "Hope, what's wrong? Why are you so tensed up?" Hope jumped slightly, as she spoke to him and looked at her with a smile to hide his nervousness. "Nothing's wrong at all. Everything's fine." Lightning raised an eyebrow, she obviously didn't believe him. " You sure?"

"Quite sure! Don't worry, Light.", he said a bit too fast. Lightning looked at him intently. She wanted to search in his eyes for any signs of lies and the other hand to wait a bit more to see if he's going to tell her the truth. Lightning didn't need so much time to find the signs of lies in his eyes though, because she saw quite a lot of these signs that he lied to her. But when he still said nothing, she looked elsewhere and Hope sighed quietly in relief. "So you're rested enough?", asked Lightning after a few minutes of silence. "Kupopo!", said Mog and nodded. "Yes, let's get going.", agreed Hope and stood up quickly. Lightning also got up and held Mog on one arm, while the artifact was still in her free hand. "I saw something back there. Looked like these golden lights the gates are always shining. I'm sure that there's the next gate.", said Hope and pointed in a direction.

Lightning nodded and let go of Mog, so it could fly itself. "Well, then take the lead." Hope smiled at Lightning and went ahead. That reminded her of the Gapra Whitewood, where Hope asked her for the first time to take the lead and she agreed. Mog and Lightning followed him quietly. Lightning made sure they won't attack by any monsters from behind and this nostalgic feeling came once again. "Light!", called Hope from the front and Lightning turned to him to see what's going on and saw a horde Cie'th were about to attacked them. "Mog.", said Lightning to tell him that he has to change to the bow. Then she took her own weapon and shot at the monsters. "Kupopo!", it said, flew to Hope and transformed. Lightning attacked and tried at the same time to protect the artifact, which was still in her left hand. Lightning and Hope attacked the Cie'th together, but then Lightning was knocked back and lost the artifact. "Hope!", she called and pointed to the flying artifact that was slowly approaching the ground. "Mog you have to catch it!", said Hope, while Mog changed back. "But I can't fly so fast, kupo!"

"Well then...." Hope didn't talk further, he just grabbed Mog and threw him to the artifact. "Kupo kupo~!!", cried Mog alarmed, as it flew through the air. Then Hope took his boomerang and attacked the monster, that pushed Lightning to the ground and wanted to attack her. The Cie'th was hit by Hopes boomerang and stumbled away from her, while Lightning got up quickly and finished the Cie'th off. Then they turned back to Mog, who fluttered with its wings as fast as it could to catch the artifact. Both of them held their breath as the artifact came closer and closer to the ground, but fortunately Mog was able to catch it at the last second.

They sighed in relieve and went to the hero of the day. "You did it Mog!", said Hope, as he put away his boomerang again. "Well done.", said Lightning and took the artifact. Then Mog flew in front of Hopes face. "Don't throw me that way ever again, kupo!" Hope took a step back from the furious Moogle. "I'm sorry, but it had to."

"Let's get going.", said Lightning and took the lead again, while Hope and Mog followed her. "Say, Mog...just out of my selfish interests...Are you male or female?", asked Hope, and took a step back again, as Mog was angry again. "I'm female, kupo! Can't you see it, kupo?!"

"Enough!", said Lightning and ended their argument and arrived with them the next time portal. The pink-haired woman opened the portal with the artifact and turned to the two squabbles. "Come on!", she said and went with them into the Historia Crux.

 


End file.
